Ana, Book 1
by ThreeFriends
Summary: Ana was a simple teen living in New York and worked for SHIELD when Phil showed up on her doorstep one Friday telling her that they had activated it, the Avengers Initiative. Follow her on her journey of sass, love, nearly broken friendships, and her secrets thrown into the air. Written by Lyn
1. Inner Thoughts

**Hello readers! I have something like this stuck in my head for a while and decided to mold it to the Avengers universe. There are serious moments, sad moments, and moments that when I had help on that the other people couldn't even write.**

**I reference things that happened in the early 20th century in Russia, including the leading girl's name. I've added things, edited things, and put a bit of me and the friends in the story in it.**

**Most of the story has been written. And I put in a lot of references to Harry Potter, James Bond, and other things in it, so try and find them and put it in your reviews. (They make my day:))**

**The story starts near the beginning, before Phil and Steve's plane ride. But before, I'll introduce you to her and give you a chance to peek into her brain. Also this story will have sequels and an alternate ending based on the movies and side stories.**

~A~

I've learned some things over the last seventeen to eighteen years in this life.

Like, friends are better than family. Music can free most of the demons in your heart. Trust those with a good heart. Cats are a girls best friend and are great listeners. Motorbikes are great. Being royal isn't what's cracked up to be.

Secrets can kill. New York is a great place for an alien invasion. Enjoy life and live like you're dying. Life and death are so much easier than dying; less painful too. Converse are awesome. I can be a force when reckoned with. James Bond has the best car ideas. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike. Everyone has the ability to do good or bad.

The more places you own the more secrets you can have. Russia can be a sweet sorrow. Assassins can be fun. Don't be trigger happy. Too much free time can be a bad thing. Falling in love is the greatest thing in the world. I own way too many pairs of sunglasses. Never trust a government agency based and built on secrets. Weapons Tech has so many meanings.

And yet I've only learned these things in a matter of three years (and some in the near future). I just got back from finishing my last class for the week, when Phil opened my door in New York. Now it looks my quiet night of writing an essay is over and probably have to do something with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Oh, I forgot to mention, hello, I'm Anastasia Niklaev. But you can just call me Ana.


	2. Insert Character Here:

Agent Phil Coulson walked down a graveled path leading to a simple New York Manor. After he parked a S.H.I.E.L.D. car holding Captain Steven Rodgers off the lawn, of course.

He looks at it with remembrance of a distant past and happy thoughts. He pulled a skeleton key out of his pocket and opened the door. The house was quiet and homey, but it was too empty and all too quiet.

"Ana," he called, "it's me."

"PHIL!" the seventeen year old girl yelled before jumping up and hugging him, throwing away the frying pan.

She was 5'4 with long, wavy-curly black hair. Her lightly tanned face held two scars, one across the corner of her lips and the other on her right eyebrow. In her left ear was a swirled ear cuff that went through the cartilage of it. Her eyes were the most striking feature. The left was an emerald green and the right, a rich brown. Over them was a sleek pair of Ray-Bans eyeglasses. She was wearing a Rolling Stones tank, black shorts and a pair of black converse dainties.

"Go get your stuff, Ana. Fury wants you."

"Nicholas? How many bags? And it's almost summer! And I graduate in less than a month!"

"Yes, sweetie, I know. And at least two."

When Ana came back with her bags, her hair was in a ponytail and was wearing a pair of aviators to protect her eyes. She had changed out of the shorts and shoes and into black skinny jeans, a blazer, and shiny black pumps. They picked up the things, Phil with more struggle than Ana who just carried them like nothing.

"Hey, Ana..." Phil breathed out.

"Yes?"

"Three things. First, Captain Steven Rogers is in the car; he's an old friend of your Grand-mère Peg. Second, you're flying. The last is that I was wondering how much sleep you're running on and for how long."

"Five hours. Up for... um... I believe thirty-nine hours. I was going to sleep after writing an essay, then Nicky wanted me."

They left the conversation at that and continued down to the plane. There, Phil introduced Ana to Steve.

"How do you do, Captain. I'm Ana," she said with an air of kindness.

"Fine, ma'am. May I ask, and you?"

"Fine as well." The car drove off and went to a private airport. Ana was in the back seat looking out the window blankly and took in her surroundings, while Captain Roger went through the files. Phil parked on the tarmac next to the mini jet. Ana shouldered her bags and dumped them in the jet. She tapped Captain Rodgers on the shoulder and nodded to the jet.

Captain Rogers continued to look through the facts on each of the other members. Before the Hulk was Ana. It just listed her full name, age, rank at SHIELD (head of a department, level 10), a picture of her, and a long list of weaponry (topped with sword, archery, and hand-to-hand). "May I borrow that? It will only take me a second," she asked, walking beside him.

He handed in to her, just slightly touching her tiny soft, but slightly rough on the edges from playing various stringed instruments, hands. She started it at the beginning, only looking at each page for ten seconds before handing it back to his big, strong hands. He looked at her, blinked, and saw for the first time the right side of her face. "Umm, your eyes are different," he said, not pointing out the scars that worried him.

"Yeah. Damn Heterochromia," she spoke back airily.

"What does that mean?" he said, as they walked up the ramp.

She merely smiled at him and got near the cockpit, handing Phil her shoes. "Enjoy the ride, talk to Phil here, and have fun cause you're only two years older than me. Live a little." She kissed both of their cheeks and strapped in. She paid little attention to the conversation behind her and was quietly humming Queen as she flew.

"Phil, we're almost there," she stated as she started the descent.

Once landing, Phil handed Ana her shoes back as she stood. She grabbed her bags, put on one green contact over her right eye and slipped back on her sunglasses, when Captain Rogers stopped saying no lady should carry bags and to call him Steve. She dropped the straps in his open hands and giggled while he barely got them off the ground. "What's in here?"

"The basics: bullets, arrows and extras, AK-47s, my broadsword, my bow, my violin, and some high top converse. Why?"

At that moment Agent Natasha Romanoff walked up to Phil, Steve, and Ana. Phil spoke up and said, "Agent Romanoff, this is Captain Steve Rogers and -"

"Anastasia Nikolaev."

"Nikolaev. As in the royal family Nikolaev of Russia?"

"да." (yes)


	3. KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

Ana was looking back at Natasha's glare, amused. Natasha was trying to see what Ana was playing at. Steve was confused at the situation because he didn't know that Ana was suppose to be missing and/or dead. Phil just called over some recruits to carry Ana's bags, two to a bag.

"Is this little staring contest over, or what. I need to see people and to make sure those guys hadn't touched my room while I was gone," Ana said bored, picking up an earpiece a recruit handed her.

"You are suppose to be missing! Are you messing with me! Where have you been hiding!? And why are you working SHEILD? And where have you been working?" asked Natasha.

"Weapons Tech, bitch. And Phil, you're needed inside," Ana said with a smirk on her face, Phil and Natasha left after the remark.

"Am I missing something here? And Ana, you're Russian?" Steve asked.

"Yes. Dr. Banner, hello! I loved your essay on heterochromics and cats, it's one of my absolute favourites." Ana said directing her attention to Dr. Bruce Banner standing awkwardly off to the side, looking around.

"Who are you exactly?"

"Oh, sorry. Ana Niklaev at your service."

"Ah, the princess. Nice to meet you. And call me Bruce," Dr. Banner said, completely missing Ana's eyebrow twitch at the word princess, shaking her hand.

Steve said as he rose his hand to shake his, "Dr. Banner."

"Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming." Banner replied.

"Word is you can find the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about."

"Must be strange for you, all of this."

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar," Steve said as a group of people ran by.

'"Um, sirs, you might want step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe..."

"Is this is a submarine?" Steve asked as he and Banner walked closer to the edge.

"Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?"

"No, quite the opposite," Ana said before she turned around.

"...Oh, no. This is much worse," Banner said as the helicarrier rose from the water.

Ana fast walked inside with Bruce and Steve trailing behind her. They walked in to see Ana holding a huge cat and spinning in a circle hugging it. Behind her was a slightly dizzy older teen with blonde hair, silver eyes, and an earpiece falling from her ear. "Did he behave, Missy. He promised me to be a good kitty."

"Hi, Missy. How are you? Oh, I'm fine despite the god of thunder's sudden disappearance. How are you, Ana? I'm feeling Musey with a bit of Beatles and Frank Sinatra, now where's Capy-tian," the girl, Missy, said going back and forth mimicking Ana's voice and her own.

"Yeah, yeah, Hun. Get ova it," Ana said in a Jersey accent from her usual slight British.

Director Fury chose that moment to walk in, clearly not giving a crap about the girls and was headed to greet Banner and Rogers. Steve stopped looking at the awe catching girl and let his eyes wander around the room. He started his way down the catwalk separating the two areas from each other and only paused to give Fury ten bucks as stated before. But before Fury could put the ten in his jacket, Ana grabbed it and left a swift kiss on his cheek before skipping off, heels in hand, claiming she's going to sleep, with the massive cat following her.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," Fury said after dismissing Ana for three hours.

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh...how long am I staying?" Banner questioned quietly.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

"Where are you with that?"

Phil interjected, "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

Natasha huffed, "That's still not gonna find them in time."

Bruce asked, "You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Yes. Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to Agent Nichols's lab, please," Fury nodded out to the corridor.

~A~

Four and a half hours passed since Ana left to go sleep. Phil was trying to convince Steve to sign his vintage 'Captain America' trading cards. Fury walked in and asked, "Who wants to get her royal majesty, the Princess?"

The whole room, minus Steve because he didn't get the reference, yelled 'not it'. Fury, then walked up to Steve, clapped his hand on his shoulder and said, "Go down a floor, turn left, and walk past two hallways. On the third hallway, turn left again, go past three and a half doors, and walk in the fourth. She should either be playing the violin, reading, drawing, or snuggling under the covers in her bed." Fury then pushed him in the right direction and smirked. "Sucker…"

~A~

Steve followed the directions precisely, but decided to knock instead of barging into the girl's room. There was a quiet answer to his knock, and when he went in he was surprised by the simplicity of the room. The room was a light grey with black trim and a black, grey and white rug was placed on the metal floor. A Totoro shaped cat bed was in the corner opposite of the small full sized bed, which held the figure of Ana under the covers. A desk was pushed to the wall next to Steve and held a violin, a sketch pad, a small handgun, and a sword holder with a curved saber on it.

"Um, they want you back up in the main room, ma'am," Steve said quietly.

"Oh," she said rising out of bed, dressed in the 'Stones tank still and her Batman boy shorts. "And, kind sir, you can call me Ana or miss."

Steve was shocked and turned his head out of the room, blushing, as she found some shorts and put on her high tops. "Come along now, we mustn't be a drag," she said with a slight smile/smirk and grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

When they reached the room, Fury told Steve to suit up and Ana to ready 'da plane'.

~A~

It was decided that Ana was flying to Germany and the pilot was co-piloting until the flight back to the helicarrier. Natasha was in the back with Steve, as she was co-piloting next.

"So… I missed briefing... can anyone fill me in?" Ana asked, pointing the scarred part of her face towards the back and a pair of glasses perched on her nose.

Steve answered, "We are sent to retrieve this guy named Loki."

Natasha angrily asked, "How in the world are you still alive and here?"

"Ah, Loki, somewhat of a nice old sport. Misunderstood and under loved, that one is. Great listener he is… And I ran away three weeks after the… um... things happened. Anyway, it will be somewhat nice to see an old friend..."

The rest of the flight was in silence until they all switched spots over Germany and Steve was dropped off near the gallery. Loki yelled to the crowd to kneel before him.

"Ya know," Steve said popping out of the crowd, "the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

"Loki, if you know what's good for you, drop the goddamned scepter," Ana said through the plane's speaker. But before her sentence was completed, Tony Stark hacked into the planes feed and started to blast AC/DC. "Imbécile," Ana muttered under her breath.

During that, Steve and Loki started fighting each other. Ana pulled out her phone and started counter-hacking into the plane's speaker system, while half watching the battle. Stark blew Steve out of the way and pushed Loki into the set of stairs at the base of the museum.

Back on the plane, Loki was placed next to her on the bench. Ana first glanced up to both Stark and Captain with a slight smile, then averted her attention to the god sitting next to her. "You need a haircut, mister. Do you ever have the time anytime for that anymore or do you rather take over the cosmos?! Also, your highness, where is my bloody hug?" Ana asked, oblivious to the shocked men around (minus Loki, of course) when she received said hug. Once released from it, she rested her head on his shoulder, with his arm resting lightly on her waist.

"Who's the prince-" Tony started to ask.

"Say princess and I will make sure you car will burn at the stake for _your_ sins."

"Okay… old man, who is she." Tony asked after him and Steve moved farther away from Ana and Loki.

"Anastasia Niklaev… I believe her name to be. Anyway, I don't like this." Steve said to him with a slight look of disappointment on his face over to the two slightly cuddling together. He had a nudging in the back of his head of wanting to be where Loki was.

"What? Her with him like that or Rock of Ages give up so quickly?"

"Both, but the latter more. I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

"Still, you were pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

"Here, here," Ana added at the end. After that moment the ride quieted to a comfortable silence. Until thunder and lightening was heard overhead. Ana lifted her head just as Loki turned his head upward. A quiet 'shite' fell from her lips as she looked up also. "What, are you two both afraid of a little lightening?" Tony asked, slightly bewildered at the sight. Ana got up, put on her jacket, grabbed a parachute, and said "Prepare for inpact and open the hatch. It's better than him causing us to crash. Where are we?"

"Manchester. Where do you-" Natasha was cut off by Thor landing on the hatch and taking Loki before he flew off. Ana put on the chute and leaped off after them with what looks to be a grappling hook in her hand. "ANA WAIT!" Tony put on his helmet and went after Thor and Loki, not particularly caring of the fate of the daredevil teen. Steve was lost in whether to follow her or go after Tony and the other Asgardian. Just before he was going to jump after Ana, Natasha stopped him saying,"I'd sit this one out, Cap."

"I don't see how I can."

"These guys come from legends, they're basically Gods."

"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." With that, he jumped after Tony, leaving Ana in the back corner of his mind.

~A~

Ana landed near the cliff face and walked up to see Thor yelling at Loki for the location of the Tesseract. "Boys, men, gods, your highnesses, whatever the feck you are, calm down and settle this in a nice manner or I'll hit the both of you!"

"Lady Ana, I am trying to get Loki to tell me where the Tesseract is, but he is not listening!" Thor said before he was hit by Tony in the Iron Man suit.

"I'm listening!" Loki said obviously while Ana got a perplexed and confused look on her face. She started making hand gestures and look back and forth between Loki and the empty space Thor was in. With a heavy sigh, she put an arm around her waist and braced the other as her hand covered her face.

She moved her hand and looked over to Loki once more, said, "D-did that just happen?" and bit her lip.

"I believe it did," Loki smirked. The two friends started started laughing and began to talk about random things while they waited.

~A~

The three men hiked up to the cliff face after blasting a chunk of trees to the ground, just to see Loki and Ana having a pleasant conversation while Loki held her to try to keep her warm with his cape. The two stopped mid-laugh and got up while the men stood in utter confusion. Ana brushed it off and asked, "How are we going to get back boys? I have a decent flat in Manchester we can stop in for a bit before I call for a plane or the two with flight capabilities can carry the non-fliers." They all voted for the flat until someone comes.

~A~

"Tea? Coffee? Warm blankets? Shower, 'cause I think I have some men's clothing here that might fit everyone..." Ana asked as the group made it to her penthouse loft. Tony and Steve went for the showers, Thor sat and stared at Loki who stood by the floor to ceiling windows. Ana when to get the showering males clothes and towels, then went to the kitchen to get a pint for Thor, coffee/fuel for Tony, water for Steve, a Pepsi for herself and tea for Loki with a splash of whiskey.

"The plane will be here in over an hour, guys. Don't kill each other or worse, demolish my flat."

Ana went to her room and waited for Steve to get out of her shower (his clothes were left on the bed) by the chair with the clothing she was planning on wearing. Steam filled the dark room as Steve left the bathroom in a towel, blushing when he saw her sitting in a chair.

"Um… Sorry… I'll just go in now. Oh, your water is in the kitchen and make sure those two don't off each other."

~A~

When Ana returned, dressed in a Undesirable No. 1 tank top and cut-offs, Thor was standing by Loki at the window. Tony was pouring himself more coffee and Steve was by the mantel, looking at the pictures there. The one in his hand was one of an older looking Peggy and a freshly scared Ana by a window in what looks to be a rest-home. "That's my grand-mère and I when I was 14. I say I look so much like her and act similar to her, too."


	4. Crazy Plane

"Peggy?"

"Oh, I shouldn't've said that."

Ana left after talking about the picture. Tony had briefly before heard about Peggy in passing from his father… and something about fondue.

"I have a feeling that I might not have time to get at least ten minutes of sleep anytime soon, so I'm going to get a blanket and nap until they call. Also there are extra pillows and blankets in the ottoman," Ana called to the men.

She laid herself on half of a couch and covered her legs in a black and yellow blanket. Within seconds she was sleeping soundly. Tony paid closer attention to the blanket and said, "Batman, really?"

**~A~**

By the windows, the Loki and Steve spoke a bit. "Why did Ana ask you to hug her?"

"Because we relate to each other on a level. She said it perfectly to me once. It went something along the lines of, 'ignorance and neglect hurt much more than outright dislike or hatred.' Take care of her, okay? I might not see her for a while... I care for her like she cares for me."

Steve looked to the god and then looked back at the girl in question. She shivered slightly and curled up a bit more. Steve walked over to her and pulled the blanket up to her shoulder. He kneeled in closer to her and studied her more, finding more similarities to Peggy from when he last saw her. He ran to grab a piece of paper from her room and a pen and promptly started to sketch her face.

Ana started to wake when he was about finished. Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks until she fully opened her eyes. The contact on her right eye was slightly off, and so her vision was fuzzy. Ana reached out her hand and placed it on Steve's face. "Angular jaw and a rather nice bottom lip. Steve, I believe." "Ma'am… your eye thing is messed up." "Right. Thanks," Ana said as she promptly removed the contact. The rest of the men barely noticed as she left that there was something different with her eye.

**~A~**

On the roof, a helicopter landed on the roof and was clearly heard from the ceiling. Ana gathered her shoes and the guy's now clean clothes. The men filed into the hall, Loki now in zip-tie handcuffs, and then up the stairs with Ana following all the way. "How was the break?" Natasha asked as they piled into the helicopter. "Entertaining. Thor attacked my giant box of teddy bears and Tony filmed it. I napped under a Batman blanket that Tony hated. We showered and Steve sketched a portrait of me."

"All of you showered… together?"

"God, no I'm not a slag! Just start the damn chopper!"

**~A~**

The helicopter flew them to a plane, and from there the plane took them to the helicarrier. Tony and Ana were moved to her lab to work with Dr. Banner. But before that happened, Ana followed the guards with Loki into the holding chamber with her cat. Once the guards and Ana left, Director Fury talked to Loki about an ant and a boot.

In the main area of the helicarrier, they were all around the table watching the interrogation. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner added at the end of it.

"Once you get to know him, yes," Ana stated.

Steve commanded, "Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?

"He has an army called the Chitauri, that none of Asgard nor any world know. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. Return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army, from outer space."

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," Banner stated.

"Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha butted in.

Steve said, "I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him," Banner said, not noticing the icy glare from Ana.

"I don't care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother."

Natasha dully stated, "He killed eighty people in two days."

Thor, backtracking, "He's adopted."

"Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?" Banner thought aloud.

"It's a stabilizing agent," said Tony said as he walked into the main chamber. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD. No hard feelings Point Break, you've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants. That man is playing Galaga!" Ana walked over to the guy and gave him a slap across the back of his head and stabbed his screen with a pen, shattering it. Tony was by the center monitors and placed a bug while saying, "Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did. How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns," Ana said as she shuffled back to her seat, kicking her feet up on the table.

"Sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill questioned.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"_Oui, mais je n'ai __é__cumer un peu d'elle_," Ana said as she leaned back in her chair, bored, and stared at the ceiling. (Yes, but I did skim a bit of it.)

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve questioned

"He got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner said simply.

"Unless-"

"Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect with a reactor," Ana imputed.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally, people who speak English," Tony said relieved.

Steve, confused, "Is that what just happened? But she was just speaking French a moment ago."

"_Oui, et alors?_" Ana simply stated. (Yes, so what?)

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks."

Fury entered and said, "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him. Ana, you too."

"_Je suis consid__é__rablement honor__é__, __â__ne._" Ana said with her voice dripping in sarcasm. (I am greatly honoured, ass.)

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon," said Steve interested.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

Thor asked confused, "Monkeys? I do not understand."

"I do! I understood that reference," Steve exclaimed. Ana walked over to him, patted his shoulder, said "Oh, baby," and gave him a kiss on the temple before the trio left the room. "This-a-way, boys, I had it decked out with all the new toys!"

**~A~**

Back in the lab, work looking for the Tesseract began. "I'm so hungry," Tony moaned. "Back of the room, by the pipe. There is a knob on the pipe. Use the knob to open the door and inside should be some blueberries, Pepsi, sweets, and a whole mess of other things. Help yourselves as long as you bring me a Pepsi and a box of sweets," Ana said not even looking up from the screen in front of her. Currently she was perched atop the center island, "What?"

"How do you know this?" "First rule of my lab: don't question me and just assume."

"Age. I skimmed over it in the file they gave us. And it's a demand, not a question."

"Seventeen. Happy princess?"

"Teenager, eh? Who else is a teen on this… Thing? Also, aren't you the princess?"

"Captain Rogers, I believe. I think nineteen. Oi! Who told you." Ana hopped off her perch and was chest to chest with Tony. "Calm down guys-" Dr. Banner tried to intercede, but was cut off by shushing. They were having a staring contest. Tony caved first because of Ana's killer stare. Steve decided to walk in and was confused by the scene of the two standing that close. "How's the search going?"

"Spotty so far, Steve." Ana answered as she was the one to grab the blueberries, throw them to Tony, get her Pepsi and sweets, and hop on top on the table before. She hopped off again and started walking out the door, "Guys, I'll be back. My contacts are bothering me. Carry on. Oh, and no fighting."

She continued to her room, but before she made it there she was stopped by Natasha. They stared each other down until Natasha slammed Ana into the wall, leaving the younger Russian's feet dangling from the floor. Ana then swung her legs around Natasha's arm and kicked her face before landing on the ground. "I still don't believe you're here."

"Shit happens, doll face. I would know." Ana retorted back before entering her room. She rubbed her eyes after removing her contacts. Her hair was a mess so she combed it before re-tieing it up in a bun with parts of her bangs curling around her ears. She checked the time, grabbed her blacked-out ray-bans and placed them on her head. She closed up her room and made her way back to her lab, avoiding people's eyes.

Upon arriving back, Steve had left and the other two were acting seemingly normal. "Anymore progress?"

"Nope, your royal highness. Why sunglasses? It's only nearing dawn."

"The sun and I have a love hate relationship. It loves making me hate it and and run from it. O merciless sun, why doth thou so bright?! On top of that, the idjits from SHIELD won't let me have blinds! Bah!"

Both men looked at each other, passing blueberries among themselves.


	5. Lost of Trust

Dr. Banner, Tony, and Ana (Ana with her sunglasses on, mentally swearing at the sun) were still in the lab looking for the Tesseract via Loki's staff. Tony, while looking, was hacking into the system by way of number 2,542 trying to find secrets on Phase 2. Missy saw Tony's little hack and was about to counter it when she saw Steve, through the security cameras, bust through a storage container and open a box of weapons that needed the Tesseract's power. Missy opened the Phase 2 file, cleared her screens, got up and walked out her room and to Ana's. Fury was in the central area and noticed a virus screen pop up on one of the agent's screen. He left the room and went straight to the lab to get Stark from the hacking.

On the way, he ran into Missy who was eating a candy cane. "Sorry Nicky, didn't see you there."

"Why aren't you stopping Stark?" Fury asked.

"What are you talking 'bout?" Missy asked.

"Stark hacked into the system," Fury said.

"And?" Missy asked.

"What are you doing about it?!"

"Absolutely nothing, I want to see what happens."

"You are here to keep people out of our system," Fury fumed, "Not let them get in!"

"I have already let one in and this only time that has happened. I want to see the outcome to all of this and see how your team reacts and Ana."

"You've stopped Stark before. Why aren't you going to now?"

"Because his findings are very strange. Phase 2." With that, Missy went back to her room to watch from above.

Fury walked into the lab, "What are you doing Mr. Stark?"

"Uh...kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony said.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are, the model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now." Bruce said.

"When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Ana added on, from her perch on the table in the back.

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss. What is Phase 2?" Tony asked.

Steve walked into the lab holding a huge gun saying, "Phase 2 is SHIELD using the cube to make weapons."

"Nicholas, what on earth are you doing? Replacing me? Forgetting me? I guess I was right, I don't deserve whatever you guys seem to need me for, or use me for in this case," Ana said with tears in her eyes.

"Rogers, Ana, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're..." Nick started.

Tony turned his computer screen to the group, "Were you lying?"

"No, but..." Fury sputtered.

"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit. And I want my ten dollars back," Steve started and turned to a now crying Ana. "Ana, we still need you on this team." He said before pulling her into a hug. Everyone else in the lab started arguing.

Natasha and Thor walked into the room observing the scene. Natasha broke up the heartfelt moment between Steve and Ana, causing Ana to run from the room and Steve to call after her.

"Did you know about this, Agent Romanoff?" asked Dr. Banner.

Avoiding the question, Natasha said, "Loki's manipulating you."

Avoiding the statement, Dr. Banner said, "Anyway, I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"And why you broke a innocent teenage girl's trust for you," added Steve.

"Because of him," Fury said pointing to Thor before turning back to Steve. "And I didn't mean to do that to Ana."

"Me?" Thor asked.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge mass that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out gunned. You remember don't you? Jane Foster, the one who nearly died." Fury said, laying it on thick.

Thor's face was downcast when he remembered the incident. Now, he was angry, "My people want nothing but peace from your people."

Arguments rose from everyone in the room. Eventually Steve ran out. He couldn't take it anymore, and he had to find Ana.

"She's in the weapon room, Steve," Missy's voice said above him.

"Thanks, Missy."

He ran to the weaponry and found Ana, sitting in a back corner of the second level, crying her heart out, and barefoot. Her shoes were near the entrance, because she kicked them off to climb up there. Steve grabbed her, placed her on his lap, and rocked back and forth while she cried.

~A~

Meanwhile, Missy was monitoring the argument underneath her. Thor was saying something about about everyone being tiny and petty. Nick was concerned about Dr. Banner, and then Dr. Banner picked up Loki's scepter. Banner seemed that he was about to let the Hulk loose when the computer picked up the Tesseract's signal. It was only then when Missy looked back at her computers and saw the security footage outside. Clint was notching an arrow and let it fly.

"People!" Missy yelled to the lab and weapon room, "We have a prob-" then the one of the engines exploded.

~A~

On the other side of the helicarrier, Steve and Ana heard and felt the explosion.

"Steve, go and help Tony. I need to find Missy or I can help you. Choose." Ana said.

"Go find Missy," Steve said before grabbing her face and kissing her with as much passion as he can muster at the moment, before running off to find Tony.


	6. Sucker-Punch

On the other side of the ship, Natasha was running away from the Hulk. Steve made it to Tony and is standing in the spot with the red lever. Thor caught up to the Hulk, but was soon punched to the other side of the ship, near Loki. Ana was crawling through vents, slightly dazed from the kiss, to find Missy, and ended up in the central control room where she was forced to fight with a pipe. The Hulk jumped onto the plane shooting that was him and fell to the earth. Missy, who was thrown out of her room and slid down the corridor for about half the ship, almost collided with Phil on his way to the weapon room as she tried to make it back to her room. Clint, still under Loki's control, shot an arrow into a computer and caused another engine to fail. The helicarrier started to fall out of the sky. Natasha went after Clint when Fury announced it over their earpieces. Tony removed the rubble and started the jump for the engine, while Steve was fighting/hanging off the side of the carrier. Missy made it back to her room and used the helicarrier's defenses to blast some planes out of the sky. Missy then saw Thor getting closer to the holding cell area and Phil sneaking up on Loki.

"Ana!" Missy yells through the earpieces.

"What Missy? Are you okay?" Ana asks while smacking someone in the knee.

"I'm fine, but you need to get to the holding cell!"

"I'm a little busy and I'm on the other side of the ship."

"It's Phil!"

Ana sucker punched a guy in the throat, "I'll be there in five minutes. Back up please, Missy. I know you can shoot."

"It'll take you too long. I'm right around the corner. I'm going in."

"Then go, nimrod!"

"Will do, princess."

"ARGGG! You know I don't like being called that!"

~A~

Meanwhile Thor was tricked into the holding cell by Loki, who had used one of his clones.

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" Loki asked. Thor swings his hammer and puts a crack in the glass and it slightly fell.

"The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?" Loki asked as he moved towards the button.

"Why are you doing this Loki?" Thor asked.

"Because brother, it brings me great joy to see something you hold dearly, like your life, destroyed." Loki said as he was about to press the button.

Phil enters with a weapon that no one, but Ana, knew how to use. "Step away, please."

~A~

Ana was running through the side of the ship, still barefoot. In her path was Natasha and Clint. Ana grabbed a pole near Clint, while Natasha was under something, and jumped up, swung around, hit Clint square in the chest, and continued on her hurried way.

She then tripped a New York City block away from the holding chamber door, muttering Russian curses under her breath...

~A~

Loki looked at Phil and moved away with his hands up.

"You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent The Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?" Phil asked showing off the gun. He was about to use it when Missy's voice came from behind him.

"Don't move Loki. Don't you know it's cowardly to stab a man from behind?" Missy said with a gun pointing at Loki, "Now, drop the stick."

Loki turned around and walked towards Missy, "I think you should drop the gun foolish girl. No mortal weapon can stand against a god."

"Really?" Missy asked as she shot Loki in the foot. "Didn't that just stand against you?"

"Damn," Loki said hopping on one foot, "Despite this, I fear you have placed yourself in a compromising position. See, your friend behind me cannot use his weapon against me without causing harm to you as well."

"I do not think that is of much concern to me at the time being," Missy said, "Woah, I'm starting to talk like you now. Phil will you shoot this dude already?"

"Gladly," Phil said.

~A~

Tony and Steve got the engine to work again, but not before Tony's suit was left with scratches and barely working. Steve left him to go find Ana.

~A~

But Phil didn't get to pull the trigger, Loki ran towards Missy and she shot him in the chest. Loki fell down to the floor.

"Are you okay Phil?" Missy asked as she put her gun away.

"Yeah I'm fine. What about you?"

"Never been better," Missy said smiling, "How are you Thor? I didn't hear you say anything during that!"

"I'll be better once I get out of this glass prison," Thor replied.

Missy smiled at Thor and headed towards the control. She set the system was about to open the door. She turned around and was met with the smiling face of Loki, "Hello, my dear."

Missy reached for her gun and shot Loki, but the bullet went right through him. It was a clone.

Phil groaned and Missy turned around and saw Loki's, scepter coming out of his chest.

"No!" Thor yelled.

Missy pointed her gun towards Loki as he withdrew the scepter and Phil fell to the ground.

"Put down the scepter you monster," Missy growled.

"Come and make me my dear," Loki taunted.

"Missy don't!" Thor warned, "It's a trick!"

Missy ran towards Loki anyway, she pulled the trigger multiple times, but Loki dodged them. Missy ran right at Loki, but went through him.

"Why does he keep doing that?" Missy screamed.

"Because I'm so good at it," Loki whispered.

Missy turned and was about to shoot, but Loki touched his scepter to her chest. Missy's gun fell to the ground as her eyes battled between grey and blue.

"MISSY!" yelled Thor in horror. Loki only smiled evilly.

"Thor," she whispered before her eyes had turned completely blue.

"MISSY!" Thor yelled again.

Loki laughed, "What's this? You have affection in your heart, dear brother, affection for her? This is too good!"

"Let her go Loki!" Thor yelled as he swung his hammer at the glass again, the cage shook, "Your quarrel is with me alone!"

"Is it?," Loki smiled.

"No!" Thor yelled, "Missy you can fight it! Do it for me!" Missy's eyes flashed grey for a second, but quickly returned blue.

Loki walked towards Missy and whispered in her ear. Thor watched Missy's face for any emotion but she was expressionless. Loki moved from her ear and kissed her cheek. Thor pounded the glass.

"Be a dear and let the cage drop," Loki commanded as he strolled away from her. Missy walked towards the controls, flipped open the cover, and her hand hovered over the button.

"Do it!" Loki yelled.

Inside her mind, Missy was fighting a battle with herself.

"Don't do it Missy," Thor yelled, "Fight!"

Loki won, but soon after Missy fainted and hit her head hard, rendering her unconscious.

Thor watched in horror as she fell to the ground, before he fell from the helicarrier.

"Well, that went well," Loki said, "Now for her..." Loki walked towards the unconscious Missy and raised his scepter.

"You're going to lose," Phil said with the weapon in his lap.

Loki turned towards him completely forgetting Missy, "Am I?"

"It's in your nature."

"Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"

"Your lack conviction."

"I don't think I..." Loki started, but he was cut off as Phil pulled the trigger. Fire shot out of the weapon and Loki was pushed through the wall.

"So that's what it does," Phil said weakly.

~A~

Steve found Ana on the ground, banged up and slowly military crawling to the door. He picked her up and carried her in the room. Fury and some guards ran in. The scene was of havoc, Missy was still unconscious and Phil was fading fast.

"Phil!" Ana squeaked.

Steve carried her over and placed her by Phil's side. She was whispering Phil over and over.

"Just stay awake," Fury pressed.

"Eyes on me," Ana said with a shaky voice, tears streaming down her face.

He raised his arm and patted her back and smiled and said,"I-it never would have worked, N-nick, they need this. My cello is yours, my little princess... Love you, An..."

~A~

What was left of the team sat around the main table in the control room. Natasha was with Clint and Missy was in her little hole-in-the-wall room. The room was quiet except for the occasional sniff from Ana. They all looked around from where they either sat or stood.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming...Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract, Ana. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes... Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

Tony stood to leave. But before he did, Ana spoke up, saying, "Nicholas Fury... You are the second most sadistic, masochistic, evil man I have ever met. Use you people to get what want in the end, not at all caring for the others feelings. I hope you rot and burn in the fiery pits of hell!"

By this time she was standing in front of him, glaring. She slapped him lightly on the face. "Really?" was all he said.

Her eyes narrowed even more and she punched him square in the jaw. The impact of it caused him to land on the catwalk, five feet from where he was standing, clutching his jaw as he spat a tooth out.

She turned on her heel, still bare-footed from when the attack happened and sunglasses askew, and left the room with more respect from everyone who witnessed the entire ordeal. Including the eye-patched man laying on the floor, Tony who stood in awe before leaving after her, and Steve, who fell a little more in love her because it reminds him of the spitfire he had loved before.


End file.
